County considers adding direction to rural addresses
Identical addressing becomes issue
Two identical Marion County addresses have homeowners and county officials concerned.
County appraiser Cindy Magill and county communications director Michele Abbott-Becker told Marion County Commission Monday that the two identical addresses are located on U.S.-56, north of K-150.
Currently the two addresses on U.S.-56 actually are on U.S.-56/77.
After discussing the issue, the commission advised the county officials to contact concerned parties and change one address by adding "77" to the address of U.S.-56/77.
Abbott-Becker said she was told that at the time road names were being determined by the addressing committee, directions were not included due to the size of the signs.
"There aren't any delineating directions (such as north, south, east, or west) for any roads," she said, "but you definitely don't want to have to replace all of the signs in the county."
Abbott-Becker added that there may be more of these situations in the future when additional development occurs but the problem needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
She reminded the commission that whatever decision it makes it will impact residents now and in the future with changes of addresses for mail and on documents.
The first and foremost concern shared by all was emergency services for those two residents, especially if services are provided by those not familiar with names and locations.
Abbott-Becker said her department already is using directions internally for 911 calls.
Magill suggested the commission add direction designation for U.S.-56/77 for now, and take the rest of the county under advisement.
Abbott-Becker said the county needed to figure out a policy and implement something one time for all.
The original signs were paid from 911 grant funds.
